Definitions

Masculinity – It is a set of attributes, behaviours and roles that are generally associated with men and boys.

Femininity – It is a set of attributes, behaviours, and roles that are generally associated with women and girls. 

Binary Opposites – Two things that relate to each other that have an opposite meaning, e.g. strong vs weak or young vs old.

Stereotypes – A widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing. There are many stereotypes about men, women and others, some of these stereotypes are that men can’t wear dresses and must be very masculine. Another example is that women must stay at home and do house work.

The different influences on identity

Many things can affect people’s identities, here are a few examples:

Different cultures may play a role in people’s identities, for example you may have a different way from doing something compared to someone from another place because that’s how you have been brought up or taught, or you have a different way of thinking because of social standards in certain countries, for example a women’s role in a marriage.

Another way that impacts identities is social class. For example, according to stereotypes, someone with a poor background may turn out to be more rebellious, however if they were born in a much more richer environment and social class they be more authoritative. Social class affects people’s identities by giving them different ways of seeing the world, this can play an affect on who they want to be.

Gender roles or stereotypes also have a huge impact on people’s identities. Society has created gender roles which affect how people expect for example women to act or look. In some cases gender roles only state that there are only two genders and both have to look and act a certain way. In some places these expectations are very reinforced among several cultures.

New ideas about sexuality and gender helps and encourages some people to explore and discover their true identity. For some these new ideas can explain how they feel about themselves and their own preferences. It can help determine what they actually identify as instead of identifying as something they feel like they aren’t.

New technology allows people to change their identity by, for example, fully converting into the opposite sex and start taking e.g. testosterone which makes them more masculine.